Chapter 19: Ruggero Tells It All

Ruggero's POV

Cesare set the phone down on the desk in the east wing sitting room, and none of us sat.

Adriana stood beside me in a robe with her arms crossed tight.

I could feel her shaking through the air between us.

The second son leaned in the doorway.

Tommaso stood behind him in his socks, gripping his glasses in one hand.

"Play it," Adriana said.

Cesare pressed the screen.

The old Don's voice came out of the speaker, thin and dry and so much weaker than I remembered.

"Adriana."

She made a small sound.

"She's gone down for the tray. I have a minute."

A breath, and the rattle of it.

"I'm saying this once, and if you're hearing it, I'm dead."

"It was never Ruggero who sold you. It was Bianca."

The old Don coughed.

"She brought me photographs of you in the back of a federal car. I never looked at the man's face."

The dry voice went on.

"I wanted to believe her more than I wanted to look."

The room did not move.

"I told Ruggero to take you to the river. He didn't."

Beside me, Adriana's breath caught.

"I found out and broke his hand. I let the whole city think you'd run away, because it was easier than saying I'd been wrong."

I looked at the carpet.

"I'm not dying of my heart. I think she's putting something in the tea."

The voice dropped.

"It tastes of almonds. Every night after, my hands won't stop shaking."

"Dear God," Tommaso said.

"The boys believe what she tells them. Tell them it's not true."